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Great post, Zach. I couldn't agree more. I even had the same thoughts yesterday, when a few of those types of posts popped up on HN. And I completely agree, alt

Great post, Zach. I couldn't agree more. I even had the same thoughts yesterday, when a few of those types of posts popped up on HN. And I completely agree, although yes Steve had that old interview where he hated the idea of this middle sized iPad, I think at some point he would have had to make something like this to cave in to the market demand. And sort of like you mentioned, products like this are not made overnight. I would not be surprised if the early talk of the iPad Mini was when Steve Jobs was alive. I'm not sure if anyone can really publicly confirm or deny that.

culturestate 14y ago
SJ was famously against things before he was for them; the surest way to figure out what Steve-era Apple would do next was to listen for him to say some variation of "this is a bad market and Apple is not interested in it." Tablets: "What are these things good for besides surfing the Web on the toilet?" eBooks: “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore..." Video iPod: "You can't watch a video and drive a car...We're focused on music."
- isleyaardvark 14y ago
  No offense, but I really dislike that sort of phrasing about people being "famously against things before (they were) for them". I can't help but think of all the problems caused by stubbornness, and the recent article on HN about how Jeff Bezos said the people who were right often were the ones that would change their minds. (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4674270 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4674270)
  - 001sky 14y ago
    There is an art to being open-minded, but disciplined at the same time. I don't think anyone would argue Jobs was anything other than focused. Completely different from a flip-flopping politician. I'd almost say Job's flip-flopping instances were the exceptions that prove the rule, expecially because they seemed to be successful (in the market). There are (comparatively) few cases the flipped-into-flops, ya know? (pardon the pun =D).

culturestate 14y ago

SJ was famously against things before he was for them; the surest way to figure out what Steve-era Apple would do next was to listen for him to say some variation of "this is a bad market and Apple is not interested in it." Tablets: "What are these things good for besides surfing the Web on the toilet?" eBooks: “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore..." Video iPod: "You can't watch a video and drive a car...We're focused on music."

isleyaardvark 14y ago
No offense, but I really dislike that sort of phrasing about people being "famously against things before (they were) for them". I can't help but think of all the problems caused by stubbornness, and the recent article on HN about how Jeff Bezos said the people who were right often were the ones that would change their minds. (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4674270 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4674270)
- 001sky 14y ago
  There is an art to being open-minded, but disciplined at the same time. I don't think anyone would argue Jobs was anything other than focused. Completely different from a flip-flopping politician. I'd almost say Job's flip-flopping instances were the exceptions that prove the rule, expecially because they seemed to be successful (in the market). There are (comparatively) few cases the flipped-into-flops, ya know? (pardon the pun =D).